Couple ordered away from child who was adopted

WEST CHESTER — A Common Pleas judge has ordered a Maryland couple to stay away from and stop posting social media messages about the parents of the child they gave up for adoption more than two years ago.

Judge Patrick Carmody entered the Protection From Abuse (PFA) order against James Stilipec and his wife, Michelle Stilipec, of Fort Meade, Md., at the end of dual proceedings on Thursday. The orders forbids James Stilipec from having any contact with the Tredyffrin couple who filed the petition last month for one year, and does the same for Michelle Stilipec for the period of two years.

Both are also forbidden from “abusing, harassing, stalking, or threatening” the couple. That extends to Internet posts on Facebook and YouTube that the Stilipecs, who claim that their son was taken from them illegally, have circulated.

Carmody entered his order against Michelle Stilipec even though she did not appear at the hearing, and did not have an attorney representing her. Her husband, a Navy petty officer, did appear with his attorney, Perry A. Hilbert of Red Lion, York County. He did not contest the PFA order.

Advertisement

Meagan Stumpf, an attorney associated with Cheryl McCallin of Goldberg, Meanix, Muth & McCallin of West Chester, representing the Tredyffrin couple said that her clients had become increasingly concerned about the Stilipecs’ actions towards themselves and their son, who the Stilipecs refer to as Jonathan Eagle Stilipec. The Tredyffrin couple’s name is being withheld to protect the identity of their child, now 3.

“They are fearful for their safety and for their child’s safety,” Stumpf said Friday, a day after Carmody entered his order. She said the father had testified that their way of living had changed since they felt the Stilipecs stalking them. “They are more cautious, concerned with their safety,” she said. “He said, ‘It’s a different way of life now that we live.’”

In the couple’s request for a PFA order, the wife referenced an incident that took place on June 3, when Michelle Stilipec appeared at the mother’s workplace and at the couple’s home — addresses that she was not legally entitled to have information about, according to the couple’s West Chester attorney.

In the petition, filed on June 16, the mother alleged that Stilipec had posted flyers in her neighborhood accusing the couple of kidnapping her son and of committing adoption fraud.

Stumpf presented testimony from co-workers and staff at the mother’s workplace who said they saw the flyers posted in the parking lot of the building, and stuffed under the door of their office in West Whiteland. The father also testified that he found the flyers in the couple’s Wayne neighborhood on street signs after returning home from a morning run.

Tredyffrin Police detective Robert Bostick testified about the incident as well. Stumpf said police had urged her clients to leave their home for a few days because they were concerned that the Stilipecs might have been planning to grab their son and take him back to Maryland.

In a YouTube video that the couple posted, Michelle Stilipec can be seen holding a flyer with the word “kidnapped” and a photo of the child they gave up for adoption. As part of Carmody’s order, the Stilipecs are required not to use the name of the Tredyffrin couple in any future social media posting.

Michelle Stilipec has claimed that she was the victim of an illegal and fraudulent adoption process – one of a number of dissatisfied mothers who have joined a loose “anti-adoption” campaign in the United States.

Stumpf, a veteran of the county DA’s Domestic Violence Unit, said that her clients had done nothing improper or illegal in the adoption of their son.

“This was a legal adoption done in the state of Maryland,” she said. “It was complete, it was finalized, and my clients have a contract. There were lawyers involved on both sides.” The adoption was finalized in December 2011.